Day 39 - Netzach - Abby & Olivia

It’s game day, and the Netzach kiddos are ready. After weeks of anticipation, it was finally time for the annual Netzach vs Lehava soccer game. With high spirits, blasting music and new team merchandise, Netzach boarded their respective busses ready to win the game - and that we did!

After our victory at the soccer game, we returned to the busses on a high and headed to the Old City where we would be spending the rest of the day. We enjoyed a scenic walk through the city before heading to a movie about Betar’s revolt against the British to keep Jerusalem for the Jewish people. Bus 2 then went on to observe the beauty of the Hurva Synagogue which had been destroyed and reconstructed. While this was happening, bus 1 was taught about the interesting history of the infamous Jaffa gate and how it has changed over the many years since it’s construction. After this, we visited Jeff Seidel where he gifted us with siddurim and tzit-tzit for the boys and spoke to us about our responsibilities as young Jewish people.

For our final hour in the Old City, we were given free time to roam around on our own, and enjoy various Judaica stores and food shops. As the heavy rains came down onto the Jerusalem stones, 60 Moriah kids were tasked with avoiding the flash floods as they fought against the crowds to get back to the busses without slipping. Overall this made for a very exciting and memorable Old City experience!

We had a special Chanukah candle lighting and dinner fit for champions, and were then treated to hearing Rav Dov Ber Cohen speak on the meaning of life and his past experiences travelling through Asia and Israel. He touched on subjects of how to live a successful and happy life and how he achieved that. We all left the speech feeling inspired, taking the message on his two main ideas with us for the rest of our IST journey and beyond “improve the world and improve yourself.”

What a beautiful end to an amazing day and we can’t believe this insane experience is coming to an end.

Abby Hewins & Olivia Wall - 26.12.2019